Some species in the Sect. Oleifera of the genus Camellia L. known as oil-seed camellia because of their high oil content and economic value. Additional studies aimed at clarifying the phylogenetic relationships and chloroplast genomes of Camellia species are needed to hybridization, as well as improve the breeding, selection and interspecific hybridization of Camellia species. The complete chloroplast genomes (cpDNA) of the four oil-seed camellia species C. semiserrata, C. meiocarpa, C. suaveolens, and C. osmantha were resequenced to clarify their interspecific relationships. These cpDNA had typical tetrad structures, and they were highly conserved in various structural features. The total lengths of the cpDNA ranged from 156,965 to 157,018 bp, and 134 genes were annotated, including 88 protein-coding genes, 37 transfer RNA genes, and 8 messenger RNA genes. The average GC content of these genomes was 37.3%. The codons with the highest and lowest codon usage bias were UUA (which codes for leucine) and AGC (which codes for serine), respectively. The number of simple sequences repeats of the four Camelia species ranged from 38 to 40. Mononucleotide repeats were the most common repeat type, followed by tetranucleotide, trinucleotide, and hexanucleotide repeats. Our phylogenetic analysis of cpDNA, coupled with the results of previous ploidy analyses and artificial interspecific hybridization, revealed that C. semiserrata was most closely related to C. azalea, C. suaveolens was most closely related to C. gauchowensis, C. osmantha was most closely related to C. vietnamensis, and C. meiocarpa was most closely related to C. oleifera. The phylogenetic relationships between oil-seed camellia species with high oil content and economic value were characterized. Our analysis of the cpDNA provided new insights that will aid the use of artificial distant hybridization in camellia breeding programs.

Characterization of the Complete Chloroplast Genome Sequences and Phylogenetic Relationships of Four Oil-Seed Camellia spp. and related taxa